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The Offspring
'' |image= |series= |production=40275-164 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Rene Echevania |director=Jonathan Frakes |imdbref=tt0708814 |guests=Hallie Todd as Lal, Nicolas Coster as Admiral Anthony Haftel, Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan, Judyann Elder as Ballard, Diane Moser, Hayne Bayle, Maria Leone and James G. Becker as Ten Forward Crewmembers |previous_production=Yesterday's Enterprise |next_production=Sins of the Father |episode=TNG C16 |airdate=12 March 1990 |previous_release=Yesterday's Enterprise |next_release=Sins of the Father |story_date(s)=Stardate 43667.0 |previous_story=Yesterday's Enterprise |next_story=Sins of the Father }} =Summary= Data invites Deanna Troi, Wesley Crusher, and Geordi La Forge to his lab and surprises them by introducing a featureless humanoid android, whom he created based on his own structural design and recent advances in Federation cybernetics technology, describing it as his child. He names the android Lal (after the Hindi word for "beloved") and encourages it to select a gender and appearance. With Troi's assistance and considering many of the on-board species as well as the databanks, Lal narrows down to four possibilities, including a Klingon male, which, as Troi points out, would make it "a friend for Worf", but in the end selects the appearance of a young female human. Data first aids Lal with cognitive and standard behavioral algorithms, as well encourages her to interact with other members of the crew to learn behavioral and social customs. He places her under Guinan's care at Ten-Forward. This leads to some awkward moments, such as Lal misunderstanding the concept of flirting (which she first interpreted as "attacking" until Guinan makes an effort at explaining, and, intrigued by this, engages in suddenly dragging and kissing Commander Riker over the bar, leaving him baffled and almost earning him a fatherly scolding à la "what are your intentions towards my daughter?" when Data walks in on them). Lal nevertheless adapts very quickly, even, to everyone's amazement, surpassing Data as stated by her ability to use contractions, something Data never achieved. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, being informed about Lal and her progress, expresses concern to Data for constructing Lal in secrecy, but Data reminds him that he would not express such concern were two human crewmembers to decide to procreate, to which the captain has little argument. Nevertheless, Picard, as per general orders, reports to Starfleet, prompting Admiral Haftel to arrive to evaluate Lal. From the outset, Haftel is determined to transfer Lal to a Starfleet science facility. He interviews Lal, where she reveals her desire (surprising many as she clearly expresses emotional motives) to remain on the Enterprise with her father, but Haftel is unmoved. Upon leaving the meeting, Lal visits Troi in the counselor's quarters. Lal is clearly confused and distraught, and Troi, to her own awe, reveals that she is experiencing fear. Troi recognizes that she can sense Lal's newfound emotion, getting her even more uneasy. Experiencing an overload of information and emotions, Lal soon stops speaking and wanders off, eventually returning to Data's lab (as she is programmed to do in the event of a malfunction). In the meantime, Haftel meets with Data (oblivious of Lal's predicament yet) and orders him to release Lal into Starfleet's custody. Though Data moves to comply, Picard orders him to stand fast and reminds him and the Admiral that Data is a sentient lifeform with defined rights and cannot be ordered to turn what is in essence his child over to the state. But before the discussion can get any more tense, they are interrupted by a call from Troi who explains what has happened to Lal and asks everyone to come to Data's lab at once. Upon arriving, Data's diagnostics find Lal's emotional outburst is a symptom of a cascade failure in her positronic brain, and they must work fast to stop it. Haftel, seeing Data's sincerity, offers to assist Data, who accepts. Some time later, a worn-out Haftel leaves the lab and informs Troi, Wesley, and Geordi that they have failed. Visibly moved at Data's determination to save his child, Haftel explains the failure was irreparable: "for every fix a new problem occurred, ever faster. Data tried to keep ahead of it, eventually moving so fast I could no longer follow his movement, but still it was not enough," he explains, visibly overwhelmed himself, concluding that Lal will not survive for long. Data apologizes to Lal that he could not save her, but Lal thanks Data for her creation. She lets him know she loves him and will feel the emotion for both of them. Data returns to the bridge, and Picard conveys the crew's condolences, but Data reveals that he has downloaded Lal's memories into his own neural net, allowing Lal's memories and experiences to live on. =Errors and Explanations= Internet Movie Database Revealing mistakes # Data turns Lal off, but she is still blinking. Residual power to the eyelids?'''IMDB entry tt0708814 Plot Oversights # When Lal considers the choice of gender and appearance, Troi tells the anderoid that whatever the decision, it will be Lal's for life. Why can't Data just strip the android and change the sex if it becomes unhappy? '''This could be confusing, and result in possibly irrepairable damage to the android bodyframe. # In the same vein, why can't Data change? for the same reasons as above. In addition, he may not be allowed to change gender for reasons of security. Nit Central # LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, June 02, 2001 - 12:32 am: Wesley tells Geordi and Troi in the teaser that Data’s kept the lab locked at all times. So why, when the three of them showed up too early for Data, was the door unlocked? Data had unlocked the door in anticipation of them arriving in response to his request. # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Monday, July 23, 2001 - 2:29 am: If Data did a transfer of his mind to Lal's mind, then why does Lal ask for the reason for external drapings? In Inheritance it was explained that Data had a modesty subroutine to make him wear clothes. Why isn't this subroutine in Lal's programming? For that matter, when Lal is pestering Data with questions, why aren't the answers already in her memory? Lal's brain is based on Data's, and is not an exact copy. # Why is Data teaching Lal to eat and drink? Data doesn't need to eat and apparently he cannot taste, so why not put off learning this activity? This will form part of Lal's social interaction skills. # Teral on Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 3:37 pm: Why do Data need to show Lal to blink with her eyes? I thought Soong-type robots blinking was controlled by an mathematical equation. Data could be using the lesson to test the effeciency of the equation. # John A. Lang on Saturday, July 06, 2002 - 8:02 pm: Seeing what happened to Data in The Measure of a Man, HOW could Data forget it? He SHOULD HAVE KNOWN Starfleet would come and try and make some kind of on-the-spot investigation and act on that investigation. Perhaps he believed the issue had been settled by the earlier ruling. # Zul on Tuesday, April 01, 2003 - 1:31 am: It's been a while...but after seeing this episode on TNN recently, maybe this is a nit. Haftel refers to only 2 Soon-type androids in existence. I'm he's referring to Data and Lal. But what about Lore? Where is he at this point? He's still around isn't he? Princess Artemis on Tuesday, April 01, 2003 - 1:11 pm: I think the general concensus at the time was that Lore was not operational due to being beamed into space. Clearly the resistance of Soong-types to the harshest elements was extremely underestimated. He was still around, but no one knew he was alive. Sophie on Wednesday, April 02, 2003 - 1:08 am: As the time, I assumed that in Datalore, Lore was beamed out 'energy only' like Picard in Lonely Among Us and like the evil entity in TOS:Wolf in the Fold, and that Lore therefore no longer existed. That assumption was backed up by the fact that they never tried to retrieve Lore's body. The creators didn't actually say so, but they allowed us to believe it. # Christoph Strass on Sunday, June 03, 2007 - 1:27 am: In the holodeck scene, when Lal chooses her/his/its outlook poor Troi falls asleep. This is funny, she has to sit on the blank holodeck floor. Isn't that humiliating? Why can't she have a chair or bench replicated? It's the HOLODECK! Instead she has to sit on the floor, sleeping. She doesn't look too happy when Data wakes her. Derek Jacobi on Sunday, June 03, 2007 - 3:44 pm: Maybe Data didn't authorize anyone else to change the program when he created it. Either that or Deanna was too polite to make such a request. Or the creators wanted to show Deanna on the floor for whatever perverted reason. ;) Charles Cabe (Ccabe) on Monday, June 04, 2007 - 10:08 am: Perhaps she got tired of standing around, sat down and accedentally fell asleep. (In short, she didn't think of that solution untill she woke up.) Derek Jacobi on Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 10:36 am: true there is that idea, but there again though why didnt she have the computer draw up an easy chair or somethign for her to sit on. Why sit on the floor when you have the handy dandy can create anythign holodeck systems available to you. I still say Data was beign a hog and not sharing control of his computer program is why poor Deanna had to lay her head upon the floor. =Notes= =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation